Artwork for The Last Romantic

Yesterday morning, I received the artwork for The Last Romantic from Nakarin Sukontakorn, an artist from Thailand. Last month, I got the strings from Russia. I’m still waiting on the woodwinds from Atlanta, Georgia and also the vocals.

Randy played the drums. I played all the guitars. Nick Bellabuscci played the bass. We recorded those three instruments locally. Randy and I will co-mix and co-produce in January. Someone else does the mastering.

The feeling of getting the artwork for The Last Romantic

I wanted to talk about the feeling of getting it. I get an email that it’s ready. So I check it out.

I did the art concept, and gave Nakarin all the specifics. He does his thing to my concept. And when I received it, I was elated. This is an artist we’ll definitely work with again.

I enjoyed working with Ming Luke, who did the cover to both our LP and EP and even the Darvulia single. We will definitely work with Ming Luke again. But I also like to give other artists a chance. That’s why I wanted to see what Nakarin could do.

When I saw it, it was pretty jaw dropping. It was exactly as I specified, but I had no idea just how good Nakarin would be with the finer details. The lady is beautiful but sad, as specified, with the flowing white dress as specified. And the castle was magnificent. I didn’t expect it to be that awesome.

I love it when people I hire go above and beyond what I ask. Those are the people I work with again.

The only thing I do is give the specs, then add the lettering after I get the image. So yes, Astral Eyes isn’t just me. We have tons of people involved.

The Last Romantic song

As a song, this is quite possibly the most epic piece we’ve ever done. It’s almost six minutes long and has some pretty complex orchestration and some of the better riffs I’ve written. I take pride in my rhythm guitar work, as I strongly believe rhythm guitar + drums are the key to good Metal music. There are some pretty killer riffs on this piece. I’m pretty sure it will go over well.

This is our first post-Skitz release by the way. We have two new singers we’re working with, male and female. No, not Beauty and the Beast style Metal. Rather, well, you’ll see…